Description of the attraction
The Catholic Church of St. Mary of the Angels is located at the corner of Buolcott and Willis Streets in the capital of New Zealand, Wellington. The history of the church begins in 1843, when the first Catholic masses began to be held in the city on Sundays. Then it was decided to build a Catholic church, and in a few months it was ready.
It was erected practically on the site of the modern church of St. Mary of the Angels. Over the next 30 years, the church expanded steadily, and in 1873 it was decided to build a larger building in order to meet the needs of the growing number of parishioners. A few days after the adoption of this decision, the newspaper "Independent Wellington" published on its pages an article about this event, where the name "St. Mary of the Angels" was mentioned for the first time.
The new church building was designed for 450 people and cost £ 1,500. The building was rebuilt in such a way that later it could be expanded, which was done in 1892. After this reconstruction, the capacity of the church increased to 550 people.
On May 28, 1918, the church was completely destroyed by fire. The damage was £ 2,525. On the Sunday following the fire, a meeting was called to discuss the restoration of the building. This meeting immediately raised about £ 4,000. Until October of that year, funds were being raised to rebuild the church, and by April 1919, £ 27,500 had been raised. With this money, the building of the Church of St. Mary of the Angels, which can be seen now, was built. The architect was Frederick Jersey Claire, who earned his reputation by building about a hundred churches in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in the southern part of the North Island.
Due to the outbreak of the First World War, construction was difficult, but did not stop, and on March 26, 1922, at 9:30 am, Bishop Redwood inaugurated the Church of St. Mary of the Angels.
